At least 46 dead and an undetermined number of wounded were recorded this Friday during an attempt to escape in a Venezuelan prison, reported a prison official, who assured that the death toll “will rise” because the state of some injured is of “extreme gravity”.
The riot began in the early afternoon at the Los Llanos Penitentiary Center (Capello), in Guanare, 500 kilometres southwest of the Venezuelan capital, where the investigation continues eight hours later, according to the EFE agency, a prosecutor’s office reported. , who did not specify the circumstances in which the events occurred.
During the riot, in which the prisoners used firearms and white weapons, as well as sharp objects and a grenade, the prison director, Carlos Toro, was seriously injured, stabbed in the back and in the occipital region, according to the newspaper. La Voz and also the ANSA agency.
In addition, Lieutenant of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) Escarlet Gonzalez was hit by s of a grenade thrown by one of the inmates involved in the brawl.
The most seriously injured were transferred to the Dr Miguel Oraa hospital, while the deceased were taken to an improvised morgue near the prison in the town of Guanare, state of Portuguesa, where they will be identified to directly inform their families.
The riot occurred at a time when Venezuela lives under an order of confinement and social distancing, a consequence of the pandemic by Covid-19, which keeps all health centres in the country on alert.
